“Dustin!” Grace shouted, her heart clenching. She could feel the terrifying gap in strength between Malthor and Talmor, Lysander, and Valindra.
Without hesitation, she pulled out the vial she always kept close. Before she left the palace, her father’s unfathomably powerful guardian had personally entrusted it to her with grave solemnity.
He’d told her it contained the Ninefold Rebirth Pill, a life-saving treasure from the royal family’s secret vault. It was so rare that even if they poured the entire nation’s resources into it, they couldn’t produce another.
Grace rushed to Dustin’s side while ignoring the suffocating pressure bearing down on them. She pressed the warm bottle into his freezing hands.
“Take it now. This is our only chance,” she said firmly.
He could feel the medicinal energy inside the bottle. It was immense and alive, unlike anything he had ever experienced. He realized immediately how rare and precious it was.
Dustin glanced at Grace and saw the determination in her eyes, mixed with worry. Without hesitation, he opened the stopper and swallowed the pill. It was no bigger than a marble and glowing with shifting rainbow light.
The pill dissolved immediately, and warm energy spread through him. The immense but controlled energy spread through him, repairing hidden injuries and replenishing his spent true essence.
It couldn’t restore him to full strength, but his unstable internal energy finally stabilized. The flickering pulse inside him, barely holding on a moment ago, finally evened out. He had regained almost 30% of his combat strength, and a comforting warmth spread through his limbs again.
Dustin let out a slow breath that carried the faint scent of the herbs he’d taken. He forced down the turmoil in his chest and lifted himself upright once more, spine straight and unyielding.
His gaze met Malthor’s icy stare. A faint, mocking smirk curved the corner of his lips, subtle but unmistakable.
“I’ve always stood for what’s right, honored the people who raised me, and remained steadfast in my own principles,” Dustin said. “But I never learned how to be subservient to a group of parasites who stole the power of destruction just to stay alive.
“Everything about you stinks of rot and despair. Your so-called immortality is nothing but a parasite on the Void-Tyrant Dragon. It’s revolting. You want my soul? Stop talking and come take it yourself.”
“Stubborn fool!” Malthor roared furiously.
“You seek your own death!” The last shred of his patience snapped under those cutting words. He no longer held anything back.
His right hand formed a sword-like gesture, and brilliant platinum light burst from his fingertips. With what looked like a casual swipe, he aimed it at the space where Dustin stood.
“Metal Void Slash!”
A hair-thin platinum thread appeared out of nowhere. It was almost invisible, slicing through the space between them in an instant. Wherever it passed, a black rift lingered and was impossible to close. It was as if the very fabric of reality had been torn.
The attack made no sound and showed no flashy display, yet its edge was impossibly sharp. Everyone present felt it in their bones, as if a single strike could cut through not just their bodies, but their very souls.
Dustin’s eyes went wide, then narrowed instantly. A sudden, overwhelming sense of death sent chills racing down his spine.
His feet moved almost instinctively, pushing him to the limit. His body transformed into a blur of cyan smoke and darted to the left in a split second.
Behind where he’d been standing, a massive stone pillar-thick enough that several people couldn’t wrap their arms around it and inscribed with protective formations-was silently sliced clean through by the platinum thread.
The top half of the pillar slid along the smooth cut before crashing to the ground with a heavy thud. At the break, the lingering metal energy crackled and hissed, as if alive, and the air around it seemed torn.
However, Malthor’s attack came like a storm, relentless and without pause.
Dustin had just dodged, and his body was still drained from the last strike. At that moment, he was caught between exhaustion and the moment before his strength could return.
Malthor’s left hand clenched into a fist, and dark gold flames erupted from its tip.
They weren’t scorching hot. Instead, they radiated a bone-deep cold that seemed to drain life itself.
“Soulfire Fist!”
His fist slammed forward, and the dark-gold flames didn’t just fly straight. They twisted and writhed, spreading out like a living net that threatened to blot out the sky, closing in on Dustin from all directions
Within the flames, countless twisted, wailing spirits flickered. Their silent screams sent chills straight to his soul.
Wherever the flame touched, space itself seemed to buckle and collapse. It swallowed the light, leaving only patches of writhing darkness.
Dustin knew there was nowhere left to dodge. He let out a roar, pouring every last drop of the Ninefold Rebirth Pill’s renewed strength and the remnants of his true energy into his longsword.
The blade flared with a dazzling cyan light unlike anything he had ever summoned. Layers of condensed energy coalesced into sharp, tangible arcs. They formed a towering barrier before him, etched with the intricate pattern of the arcane sigil.
“Mystical Infinite Barrier!”
A deafening crash echoed as the flames struck the barrier. Dark gold flames erupted in a net of searing power, slamming against the cyan barrier.
There was no massive explosion, but the sound it made was bone-chilling, a shriek that felt as if billions of souls were wailing at once.
The wall shuddered violently. The arcane sigil’s patterns spun wildly, straining to contain the destructive force, but it couldn’t hold. In less than a heartbeat, the barrier groaned under the weight, cracking noises spreading like lightning as fractures spiderwebbed across its surface.
